Calm
by mk10
Summary: After the Battle of Endor, celebrations begin. Han looks for Luke, but Leia finds her brother alone and not himself.


The celebrations were underway. The atmosphere was electric – the roar of the fires and the wonderful smell of fireworks in the night air. For so long they had been waiting to breathe that sigh of relief. For so long they had been waiting for the chance to sit back and say "We did it."

For Leia, Han and Luke it was a hard fought battle. So much had been lost to gain peace; homes, family, friends, time, innocence, dignity, limbs. They were here celebrating, but not all of them. A part of them would always belong to the now dead Empire.

However, at this time, not all three would know what the other two had been through that night. For Luke, all he could hope was that Han and Leia weren't killed by Storm Troopers as he looked down at the forest moon from the Death Star.

For Han and Leia, all they could hope was that Luke knew what he was doing up there and wasn't caught in that explosion – which Leia was sure he wasn't.

"I told ya I'd take care of her didn't I?" Lando laughed as he patted his friend's shoulder.

Han laughed. "Never doubted you, pal."

He glanced over at Leia who was standing beside one of the many crackling fires. She looked up and smiled back. That warm smile. It was amazing to Han how much she was like the kid, even after only being told a few hours previous that they were sister and brother.

Speaking of the kid, the smuggler shot a look to where he had last seen Luke talking to Wedge, but he was no longer beside the pilot. It was a party. He could be anywhere talking to anyone. Han would catch up with him later.

Leia had caught Han's eyes looking around and did the same, not even entirely sure who he was looking for until she noticed that her brother wasn't near. It was funny, she thought. Luke was such a strong presence and not just because she could feel him through the Force. He was calming and when he was missing, you really noticed.

She all of a sudden felt the need to turn so she quickly peered over her shoulder. There was no noise that startled her, no tap on her shoulder. There was no real reason, but there was.

Luke was there. He was leaning against a tree. He was a little further away from the fires so he was just barely visible, but she saw him. She excused herself in case anybody had been talking to her and approached her brother. As she reached him he didn't move, but he looked at her, head down slightly.

"Hey." She smiled warmly.

"Hey." He replied quietly and smiled back.

She didn't say anything. She looked at him - studied him. He didn't look away, but she couldn't sense the same calmness from him at this moment.

"Luke..."

She reached up her arm slowly to him. She could see him almost press himself further back into the tree he was leaning against, until her touch met him.

Sudden heat.

"You're burning!"

"I-I'm okay..." He tried to reassure her.

She watched as he leaned his head back against the bark, grimacing.

"No you're not. You're-"

She gently gripped his arms away from his body and lightly pulled them. "Here. Sit down."

It took a few moments, but he did as she suggested and lowered down so that he was sitting against the same tree. She sat close to him.

After a minute or so of just watching him breathe, Luke looked back up at his sister. "Thanks."

"What happened?" She could tell he was reluctant, but he did want to tell her deep down.

He looked down and hugged his arms close to himself, visibly in pain. He looked so young. She hadn't seen him like this since they first met. Since Ben died. And although he seemed vulnerable, he still had this safe feeling about him.

"It's okay." She reassured him.

His hair was now damp against his forehead as he took his time to even out his breaths.

"The Emperor made me fight Vader, but I wouldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't fight..."

Leia didn't say anything. She gave him all the time in the world.

"...until he said he would come after you."

She took a small, sharp breath in. She took his hand in hers. His real hand.

"Then I lost it... just went for him... I was so angry... until I realised..."

He felt his mechanical hand clench involuntarily as he looked down at it.

"...I'd become just like him..."

He slowly looked up at her for the first time since he started talking. Those ice blue eyes.

"So I stopped... I threw away my lightsaber."

"Luke..."

She was so proud to be his sister at this moment. But just as those ice blue eyes had come to life, they quickly darkened once again.

"Leia, I have never experienced pain like that before."

She wasn't expecting him to say that and as she held his hand she could feel him heat up.

"Burning... electricity... straight from his fingertips."

Leia jumped as she could have sworn she saw her brother's mechanical hand spark. Luke looked back down at the artificial limb.

"It felt like forever..."

He didn't say anything for a few moments. Leia still held his hand in hers and watched him remember.

"Then nothing. I looked up and... and Vader held him." He was finding it harder to speak.

"He killed the Emperor... Leia, our father-"

"Saved you." Luke looked up to see his sister looking back at him, glassy eyed.

"Saved us." He replied as he smiled at her, letting a tear fall down his cheek. Leia reached over and took his mechanical hand in hers, now holding both and returning his smile.

"So that's what you got up to up there on Vacation Station while we were all down here fightin' for our lives."

They both looked up to see Han smiling down at them. He had probably heard everything after he first noticed Leia had left the party. It didn't matter. It was good that he did.

He came over to them and knelt down, taking Leia's hand in one of his and resting his other on Luke's shoulder.

"Way to go, kid."


End file.
